HBO parent company Time Warner has released their latest quarterly earnings report and within it are the latest viewer numbers for Game of Thrones. HBO is now reporting that Game of Thrones averaged 14.2 million viewers per episode last season. This is a 20% increase over season 2’s viewership number and is a significant jump from the last reported number of 13.6 million. (You can download the full report here.)

What does this mean? It means that even well into season 3 Thrones‘ viewership is still climbing. Which is pretty unprecedented for a drama like this. I suspect the Red Wedding may have had something to do with the late season jump as people got caught up on the show to see what all the fuss is about.

This also means that Game of Thrones is very, very close to becoming HBO’s most-watched show of all-time. The Sopranos is currently tops with an average of 14.4 million viewers per episode. Game of Thrones may very well break that next season.

Winter Is Coming: Take a moment to let that sink in. The network that brought us huge hits and pop culture staples such as The Sopranos, Sex and the City and True Blood… and when it is all said and done, Game of Thrones may top them all. Who would have believed that 4 years ago? We were just hoping the show would make it to air. What a ride.

I think this site, and we fans in general, have done a great job of pimping this show. Ever since HBO optioned the novels, I’ve been tireless about getting people into the books and then later lending out DVDs. It’s so fun to hear people at work arguing about the minutia of the show. It’s in the pop culture in a way that I never imagined it would be. And knowing what’s coming next season, I can’t imagine it won’t keep growing.

But…but…but D & D are talentless hacks who are screwing up the show so badly that is sure to get cancelled any moment and who will ever want to watch Emilia Clarke and Kit Harrington try to act because they are soooooooo awful!!!!!!!!!

Just kidding. Great news. All the people I know who have resisted watching in the past are falling like dominos so this comes as no surprise.

You are right there!! I discovered Game of Thrones (and the books) because of a friend who told me about it and gave it their highest recommendation. I’d heard about it before that, but I didn’t sit down to watch it until I had that personal connection.

Since then, I’ve gotten both my sister and brother-in-law as well as a bunch of my friends hooked (mostly so I could twirl my mustache when they got to the Red Wedding).

Just talking about the show is one of the best way to get people to buy into it–FANS RULE.

This just means they have to keep the show as exciting and interesting as possible to keep non readers interested, don’t get me wrong I have no doubt they will.. But hbo shows, or most shows in general tend to lose viewership going into its 4 and 5th seasons, true blood can attest to that, though true blood got really really bad and quickly

When the difference is only .2, it doesn’t even matter. It’s as popular as the (friggin) Sopranos – that is fantastic! Actually, I bet it’s even more popular already, because of the DVD-sales, it airing in so many different countries, and being the most pirated show right now.

It really is beyond any reasonable expectations, and it’s been so cool to follow the show all the way from the pilot being commisioned up to now. I believe the only thing that can stop it now, would be actors quitting or something. The audience – and therefore HBOs commitment is secured.

*sigh*. So much for being a marginalized fantasy geek. It’s all so mainstream now. At least I can say I read the books (as I regularly spy 20-something hipster girls reading Clash of Kings on San Francisco BART trains)

Cary Storm:
*sigh*. So much for being a marginalized fantasy geek. It’s all so mainstream now.At least I can say I read the books (as I regularly spy 20-something hipster girls reading Clash of Kings on San Francisco BART trains)

fantastic :D .. no doubt season 4 will crush the 3rd season.. the story keeps getting better and better!! .. more gore and chaos .. more stabbing and plotting .. and Revenge .. am i the only one here who can’t wait to see fans reaction to the PW !!? the RW was devastating!! shocking.. like a stab in the back kind of thing .. but joffery’s .. it’s the complete opposite of the RW :D .. as if the gods heard your prayers ”reaction” .. can’t wait.

Now entering general culture in UK. Just last week the book series was a question on an early evening TV quiz show, heard two DJ talking about the series on a major UK BBC radio programme, newspapers are referring to it. Considering the programme is aired on Sky Tv, a minority cable type company, the books/series is entering the public pysche.

The PW will be awesome. I hope Jack acts the shit out of choking. I hope we see reaction vids of it. On the other hand. The Red Viper duel scene will Crush the fandom Then when Tyrion bolts Tywin There will be more cheers Its going to be a rollercoaster. I predict Best season for the material that we have already from GRRM. I love feastdance but I think the last two books will blow us away.

JD:
This just means they have to keep the show as exciting and interesting as possible to keep non readers interested, don’t get me wrong I have no doubt they will.. But hbo shows, or most shows in general tend to lose viewership going into its 4 and 5th seasons, true blood can attest to that, though true blood got really really bad and quickly

There are a couple of reasons for this (and I think it happens earlier for most shows, around the end of season 2, or beginning of season 3).

First, it is really difficult to keep coming up with fresh ideas for a TV show. After about 40 episodes, most creative teams have given their best. They either go somewhere very different to remain inspired (COMMUNITY season 3) or fall into old habits to keep their viewers happy (pick any season of THE BIG BANG THEORY).

Second, due to network executive control, shows tend to get pushed into a corner as far as creative directions go because the suits constantly think they have to justify their jobs and their perception that your show is only working because THEY made it work, and the creative vision behind the show gets fragmented (THE WALKING DEAD is a good example).

Now, I mentioned two shows as examples of why creativity is stifled and yet both those shows are SUPER POPULAR!!!! And that’s why studios, networks, and executives over-handle hits. Because less ideas, less creativity, attracts audiences.

However, in the case of GAME OF THRONES, HBO has taken a very hands-off approach (as with most of their shows). Also, the show is based on material already written, so their inspiration is current.

The problem for them comes with how audiences will react to season 5 (and perhaps 6) when their inspiration comes from two novels that have some great moments but are also full of setup. I imagine this will be the most creative process for D&D. They have to invent a whole lot of TV friendly material that isn’t in the books. It may be daunting for them but we have seen that a lot of their inventions (departures from the books) work extremely well.

The problem for them comes with how audiences will react to season 5 (and perhaps 6) when their inspiration comes from two novels that have some great moments but are also full of setup. I imagine this will be the most creative process for D&D. They have to invent a whole lot of TV friendly material that isn’t in the books. It may be daunting for them but we have seen that a lot of their inventions (departures from the books) work extremely well.

Excellent post.

As far as your above-mentioned point about the problems with S5 and S6…didn’t Benioff recently say that S5 was giving him nightmares? I think it was in a EW interview.

Regardless, there are a lot of challenges with adapting AFFC and ADWD for TV.

Cary Storm:
*sigh*. So much for being a marginalized fantasy geek. It’s all so mainstream now.At least I can say I read the books (as I regularly spy 20-something hipster girls reading Clash of Kings on San Francisco BART trains)

It’s probably futile to make True Blood to GoT comparisons even though it’s tempting. Sometimes I worry that the AFFC and ADWD won’t make sense to casual viewers because the story gets more fragmented and there are so many new characters. They will have to make some changes. However, TB often doesn’t work or make sense because it just isn’t as well written. Also, I’m sure the source material is stronger. I haven’t read the books TB is based so I can’t say for sure. Nobody seems to reave about they way people rave about ASOIAF.

I have read all of the True Blood books except for the latest and they are fluff just like the show, so no, you’re not going to get “raving fans”. I like True Blood but simply recognize it for what it is–soap opera fun. Here’s how I view the two shows and why you can’t really compare them. True Blood is like an umbrella drink-fun, naughty, enjoyable but gone quickly. GOT is like drinking 25 year old single malt whiskey–smooth, impactful, deeply layered and something you take your time savoring repeatedly over time.

I hope they are willing to make departures from the Dorne storyline. I never understood why it was so necessary to spend so much time with Arianne’s failed plot. It would be a different thing if she had managed to accomplish anything, but she mostly looked like a child in over her head. That is what she was but I don’t see it making good television.

No one watches TB for the content, since after the first season it went so far off the rails that it became a summer joke pretty quickly. The online fandom for TB was always more sophisticated than the show deserved. TB benefited from having absolutely no appreciable competition in its first-airing time slot, a charismatic break-out star, and a fandom of the original books who have all but drifted away. (The best of the online book and TB blogs have closed up shop or are close to it.) Although now far from its former glory, TB got smacked this week against pre-season Sunday Night Football, just as Boardwalk Empire does all autumn long. Lack of real competition is more important than content for most shows.

GOT was almost entirely supported by the online fandom in its first crucial weeks. Remember the tepid-to-absurd critics’ reviews? Mo Ryan, that NYTimes woman, and many others whose good report was critical the the show’s success were so laughably off base that there’s no other reason the show flourished and found its footing. The critics like Ryan who said the show got better in the second half of the first season were revisionists—there’s no other word for it—and only a few had the internal fortitude to admit how wrong they were, after their damage had been done.

This is the cherry on top for me – I remember enthusiastically telling my family about the prospect of the show, when we were still waiting to find out if S1 had the greenlight and how it would be a great show if it followed the books etc etc. This was met with much “oh right” and good natured eye rolling at the time.
Fast forward 3 seasons in, (in fact after S1) they are ALL mad for GOT and have even talked others into becoming fans too haha, so the fact that it’s a worldwide mahoosive hit and on track to become HBO’s most watched show ever is the cherry on top of the icing on the cake!
To quote Tormund: Har! :p

GoT is to the fantasy/sword and sorcery genre as The Sopranos was to the mafia/mob genre…

GoT is a trailblazer that is paving the way for many medieval type fantasy/dramas that we all will be watching in the years to come.

HBO took a chance and stroke gold…

Now other TV channel executives see there is a huge audience out there that would watch and follow a well done medieval type fantasy series and I bet there will be many popping up here and there over the next few years…

I assume that the martels are going to play a major role expecially after the sample chapter. Plus all of Ariannes chapters would make excellent television. HBO would love it sex, betayel, manipulation, murder, tragedy, vallar, sexy ladies, and i assume Sir Arys Oakheart is probably a good looking man, Areo Hotah is a bad ass. Warrior woman=sandsnakes. How would this not be good tv. I think the Dornish things have been my favorite except for maybe quinton

I liked them as well. While I agree that the failed plot itself went nowhere, it did serve as part of Arianne’s character development and education towards becoming a leader/ruler. (Maybe I’m trying to justify their existence of these chapters. I love Dorne so I would rather see more rather than less of it.) But with everything else that has to be included, Arianne’s attempt to “crown” Myrcella can probably be cut from the show. Right now, I’m wondering how and when Myrcella is re-introduced. Will Oberyn remind Tyrion/Cersei that she is in Dorne and bethrothed to Trystane?

Quite amazing. I’ve always been bullish on GoT’s chances to be a hit, but I never expected it to rival HBO’s most successful shows, let alone surpass them. And it almost certainly has surpassed even the Sopranos, once you account for international viewership + pirating.

Arthur: I bet there will be many popping up here and there over the next few years…

The White Queen, based on the novels of Phillipa Gregory (The War of the Roses) starts on Starz this weekend and Outlander, based on Diana Gabaldon’s eight-book series, begins filming for Starz next month. A series based on Gods Behaving Badly (Marie Phillips) has already been optioned for TV, although it’s not medieval, but it is fantasy. Ditto American Gods, which we know is already on the HBO slate, or will be soon.

I’m not worried about Seasons 5 and 6. After rereading and listening to the Audio Books, there is more than enough great material.Stannis in the North dealing with LCS, the amazing Wildling Passage scene, Manderly’s Plot and Davos quest all happen at the same time as Jamie’s Justice, and Cersei’s Walk, Sam’s trip, and Sansa’s Naturalization.

It was for their 4th season. It should be noted that that was before HBO or HBO On Demand. When ‘The Sopranos’ aired you didn’t have as many ways to view it, which led to more people watching it live when it premiered each week.

You have to appreciate the characters. It is very much a character driven show. I was hooked from the start by Tony and Christopher. James Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano is the most iconic TV character of all-time, IMO.

Cary Storm:
*sigh*. So much for being a marginalized fantasy geek. It’s all so mainstream now.At least I can say I read the books (as I regularly spy 20-something hipster girls reading Clash of Kings on San Francisco BART trains)

… what the world is coming to, these days. I just hope that the COTF are not
confused for ” Twilight ” geeks. Jin Snow wasn’t the only one that knew nothing,
anymore….. *>*

As much as I loved reading the books when only a few hundred thousand hobbit geeks were into it, I just can’t get excited about how well Time Warner is doing with its adaptation, no matter how many truly exciting talents are involved and indeed thriving with this production.

I could think, “well, fantasy is getting mainstream–that’s good”, and get excited about that idea. But GoT is Sopranos with Swords. Not exactly some cutting edge Chen Qiufan schtrumpff. I’d have to take it more like…. “well, mainstream is getting Fantasy”.. that’s HBO GOT.

But, I want to be excited about this news. The only way for me to get excited about this is to think: GoT is definitely, unequivocally, INDUBITABLY, an above average TV show! And Time Warner is doing well with its ratio of viewership of its prime time cable TV instance—and that is truly wonderful because it could be a lot worse.

Arianne’s failed plot only took up one chapter, from beginning to end (unless you count her mentioning it at the very end of the Ser Arys chapter). Likewise in the show it only needs to take place throughout one episode, as long as they’re not juggling too many storylines that episode. In one episode, the Arys/Arianne seduction scene (HBO won’t miss on that opportunity!) followed by Arys stealing away Myrcella at the end. In another episode, the plot can unfold over only two to three scenes: one or two in which the plotters meet up, explain the situation to Myrcella (and us) and we get a sense of Darkstar, how dangerous he is, and generally giving us a sense of the plotters’ characters. Then another when Hotah surprises them, Arys charges him, dies, and Darkstar tries to kill Myrcella.

I’d guess the numbers will be slightly higher next season. I wouldn’t bet on it, unless you’d give me an actual number by how much you think the total viewership will decline by. Even if they did decline, it wouldn’t be by more than a half million total viewers. I said before the Red Wedding aired that it would create more new viewers than it lost. The fact that the total viewership rose by 600,000 viewers since the S3 finale is a sign pointing to higher viewership next season, IMO.

I’d never heard of ASOIAF until the first season had already aired! I watched S1 to see what the fuss was about, then read the books in the gap before S2 started.

I’m not usually into fantasy (unless you count Discworld and Harry Potter, for which I unashamedly got into the nerd culture)! I was a theatre/music nerd, one step up the high school social ladder from the kids doing role-playing games and reading books with dragons ;)

I wonder how many of us are out there, with respects to learning later of ASOIAF, and
gobbling up the chapters in large gulps. I’m a true science Nerdist, with a penchant
for Timey Wimey stuff, but little experience ( or time allotted for most fantasy ).
I was given a few copies of Frank Herbert’s ” Dune ” series, but it was “Harry
Potter” ( also pushed on to me by well meaning mates/ friends ) that convinced
me there is much enjoyment reading these series, than obsessing over medical
journals for free time. I think I read a bit of Tolkien somewhere, but that was just
decompressing after finals. ASOIAF, as a whole, has had an interesting , if long
term effect on me. I think I’m in love *>* . . . . hit it Madonna …. ” for the very first
time..” .

I’m not saying I disliked the Dorne chapters, or the characters, I’m saying they make for bad television. I feel Arianne’s plot is not one chapter but rather her whole arc. It’s the basis of her relationship to the people around her and to Myrcella and especially to Doran. That it fails because whoops Doran is on the beam after all is not dramatic. There really wasn’t much at stake besides her claim to Dorne, and since we are just meeting her we don’t see how that matters to the overall plot. We do see how Myrcella matters, but there isn’t much development of a rival power base to pit Myrcella’s camp against Tommen’s.

Still, I’m hopeful they can take some of the fans’ advice and bring Dorne in with more depth before Season 5. I’m not very optimistic they’ll have time even in Season 5 for a deep reading of the material, especially when you compare how they’ve truncated Jon Snow’s Beyond the Wall adventures with the Wildlings. But I’m looking forward to seeing how they manage.

azad injejikian: The PW will be awesome. I hope Jack acts the shit out of choking. I hope we see reaction vids of it. On the other hand. The Red Viper duel scene will Crush the fandom Then when Tyrion bolts Tywin There will be more cheers Its going to be a rollercoaster. I predict Best season for the material that we have already from GRRM. I love fe

Phenomenal job catching this! D&D may be bringing her back so we don’t forget about her. She may be sent back to Dorne by Tywin after the Red Viper’s death to keep them from declaring war.

Greetings house of DH87, let’s tune in that Sundance channel’s ” Writers Room ”
on 26 August, 10 PM EST, for an in-depth hour session with Benioff & Weiss
and the entire writers team…. for a night of straight forward talk about the scope
of GoT and it’s character profiles . It promises to be a candid and unreserved
approach by Jim Rash, on a sparse set without film clips or digital wizardry.
I watched the debut episode last week, for ” Breaking Bad ” writers team, it
was awesome. Report back here to ” share ” what you thought of it *>*

May the Seven forsake us if TrueBlood writers get invited to the show, my guess
is they won’t.

Thanks for the heads-up. Showrunners seem to sling BS everywhere but at the TCA meetings, where they know never to kid a kidder, but let’s hope we get something honest and revealing. Back in my naive days, I was shocked to see how little experience the TB script writers had before they were put on an episode. Of course, the writing reflected it: it certainly explains why a TB character made vampire “600 years ago,” according to last season’s writing, appeared last week in a flashback to that event in 1742.

I wonder how many of us are out there, with respects to learning later of ASOIAF, and
gobbling up the chapters in large gulps. I’m a true science Nerdist, with a penchant
for Timey Wimey stuff, but little experience ( or time allotted for most fantasy ).
I was given a few copies of Frank Herbert’s ” Dune ” series, but it was “Harry
Potter” ( also pushed on to me by well meaning mates/ friends ) that convinced
me there is much enjoyment reading these series, than obsessing over medical
journals for free time. I think I read a bit of Tolkien somewhere, but that was just
decompressing after finals. ASOIAF, as a whole, has had an interesting , if long
term effect on me. I think I’m in love*>*. . . . hit it Madonna …. ” for the very first
time..” .

I eventually got around to reading Tolkien, but not until I was well into my 20s. I didn’t even see Star Wars all the way through until I was almost 30!! Couldn’t get into Dune…

I do read a lot, but more stuff like Joe Heller, Anthony Burgess, Kurt Vonnegut, Haruki Murakami, Phillip K. Dick, Michael Chabon… I freakin’ love me some alternate history novels.

ASOIAF is the only medieval fantasy series I’ve ever really gotten obsessed with!

I’d guess the numbers will be slightly higher next season. I wouldn’t bet on it, unless you’d give me an actual number by how much you think the total viewership will decline by.Even if they did decline, it wouldn’t be by more than a half million total viewers. I said before the Red Wedding aired that it would create more new viewers than it lost.The fact that the total viewership rose by 600,000 viewers since the S3 finale is a sign pointing to higher viewership next season, IMO.

That’s my opinion, too. I don’t think that the RW drove viewers away. If anything, viewers may be more engaged because of the desire for vengeance.

Ah yes, Dune. Where the worm is the spice and the spice is the worm’. I also
pulled 18 hr shifts, at the time. Must have hallucinated myself in one of those
sand storms…, anyway I really didn’t enjoy the book much, the entire series
was in the hospital donated library and in the candy striped nurse’s basket.
I’m recollecting another short series by Coleen McCullough ( ” Balkan Triology” ?)
also freebie. Only books I’ve purchased non work based, Shakespeare or Lit.
I was only fooling myself, I’m really a Nerd at heart.

Thanks for the heads-up. Showrunners seem to sling BS everywhere but at the TCA meetings, where they know never to kid a kidder, but let’s hope we get something honest and revealing.Back in my naive days, I was shocked to see how little experience the TB script writers had before they were put on an episode. Of course, the writing reflected it: it certainly explains why a TB character made vampire “600 years ago,” according to last season’s writing, appeared last week in a flashbackto that event in 1742.

Yes, I could see that. I had little expectation of what would result of this latest
attempt by Sundance and EW. My tuning in for the broadcast was coincidental,
as I was finishing up my free watch of ” Breaking Bad” re-runs on the same channel.
The hour was efficacious in it’s style and format, which proved effective for the
meaningful exchange of ideas. This was all very heady for me, as I’d only begun
watching BB a few weeks ago, because of strong recommendations from comments
here. The fact that Game of Thrones was announced made my head swoon. Now
I’m actually plugging the episode, as if I’m being paid a bonus or something (:
It could be standard rehash, but I’m looking forward to it.

Blade Runner with Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer is an untouchable film classic.
I’d hate to witness that being denigrated with the likes of Bradley Cooper or
Kristen Stewart types. A remake had better include a strong primary cast list.
Didn’t that Cruise fellow already botch up Shogun, recently ?

I agree Blade Runner is a cult classic but I think a Cyber Punk genre series is long overdue… I would love to see a Blade Runner type series, IMO one like Ergo Proxy would be amazing. Not sure if your familiar with adult anime classics like that.

Cruise did make a movie that had many of the same themes as Shogun but it wasn’t Shogun by any measure.

I still bust out the Shogun classic DVDs every few years along with the Dune movie. It would be a dream come true if HBO ever decided to pick up any of these projects…

I really got hooked on Re-L because of her personality issues. She has OCD and many other bad traits and is selfish and uncaring about anyone but herself. But watching her grow in the story was very fascinating…

Hey man, thanks for having an open mind. It’s really an awesome anime, one of the best. Just youtube “Ergo Proxy review” and you’ll find everyone really enjoyed it.

It’s starts out very strange and confusing but if you hang in there it’ll all start making sense…

My main fascination was Re-L Mayer and most of the story is narrated through her thoughts. I can’t say enough of how she developes through the story. It’s rare a female heroine is giving so much depth.

I can’t explain anything to you without giving stuff away but a lot of the episodes are total mind f*cks as Vincent encounters proxys along their travels.

I looked this up at Amazon, and it sounds of interest, Arthur. Most of the readers
or viewers ranked it pretty high. perhaps some cable network will look into this as
a venture to future programming.

As for Shogun, are you referring to author James Clavell’s book ? or Shogun/ bakufu
culture ? I’ve really enjoyed the Akira Kurosawa film festivals here in San Francisco,
” Seven Samurai ” ( among others ) is a favourite.

This is good news indeed! Who would have thought that 3 years later this show would have grown so and had such a clear impact on pop culture as well! This speaks to the ferocious and loyal character of the fandom, the quality of all those involved in making the show and the tremendous awesomeness of the source material!

Still we cannot rest on our laurels and sit on out thumbs! We need to do more of the same we have done up to now, support the show, talk, bribe, cajol, threaten and if need be exterminate…ok I’m getting ahead of myself here, basically we have to keep up our level of love and support as we have up to now!

I still have that fear in my gut of the show being cancelled, and I won’t let go of that, because it keeps me motivated. That fear will go away only after the show, if we are lucky mind you, gets a full run!

Joshua Atreides: Sadly yes….The Legend Of the Seeker. An absolute travesty of an adaptation.

My Amazon search confirms this, what a shame. That title though, it sounds lame.
from my current read, I was already framing a list of notable actors to cast in
portrayal of the protagonist, Richard Rahl. Unbelievable that the Sword of Truth
project would be so named, Legend of the….

As for the “Shogun” referrence, I think it means not the James Clavel novel, but the 1980 Tv-miniseries adaptation starring Toshiro Mifune (an Akira Kurrosawa stalwart), Richard Chamberlain, John Rhys Davies (yep Gimli himself) and Yoko Shimada.

I don’t know what people are going on about, I like that miniseries, I have it on DVD and it still holds up really good! Tom Cruise didn’t have anything to do with “Shogun”, he starred in a movie with a story that has some similarities, that movie was “The Last Samurai” and it was the last decent movie and role Tom Cruise had…

I would not mind to see a re-make of “Shogun” but as a miniseries and NOT a movie, and only by either HBO, Showtime or Starz, and if push comes to shove perhaps AMC or FX, no one else! And to be populated with credible actors and high production values, not some aborted attempt to “modernize” the story or cast it with “young, hip” Hollywood celebutards!

….as for a “Blade Runner” re-make or adaptation! No fucking way! Never, ever! That movie is untouchable! It would be a disgrace to Phillip K. Dick’s great novel, “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, and to Ridley Scott’s movie masterpiece!

I swear I would be done with Hollywood if any of these Hollywood-suit-fucknuckle-types ever decides to go through with such a braindead idea! But I wouldn’t bet against these money-grubbing cretins to do something like this!

loco73: ….as for a “Blade Runner” re-make or adaptation! No fucking way! Never, ever! That movie is untouchable! It would be a disgrace to Phillip K. Dick’s great novel, “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, and to Ridley Scott’s movie masterpiece!

I swear I would be done with Hollywood if any of these Hollywood-suit-fucknuckle-types ever decides to go through with such a braindead idea! But I wouldn’t bet against these money-grubbing cretins to do something like this!

“Fucknuckle” – courtesy of Jason Stackhouse – “True Blood”!

The great Ridley Scott is making a Blade Runner sequel and it will be awesome :p

It means that even well into season 3 Thrones‘ viewership is still climbing… I suspect the Red Wedding may have had something to do with the late season jump as people got caught up on the show to see what all the fuss is about.

Truth. I have a friend who’d only just recently caught up with Game of Thrones, and it all had to do with the media blowup following the Red Wedding. She was intrigued, and so caught up to see what all the fuss was about. Needless to say, she was stunned when she got to “Baelor.” I savored every reaction she had to each mind-blowing twist in this series.

loco73:
As for the “Shogun” referrence, I think it means not the James Clavel novel, but the 1980 Tv-miniseries adaptation starring Toshiro Mifune (an Akira Kurrosawa stalwart), Richard Chamberlain, John Rhys Davies (yep Gimli himself) and Yoko Shimada.

The TV series was an adaptation of Clavell’s novel.

loco73:
….as for a “Blade Runner” re-make or adaptation!No fucking way! Never, ever! That movie is untouchable! It would be a disgrace to Phillip K. Dick’s great novel, “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, and to Ridley Scott’s movie masterpiece!

They’ve been working on the sequel for the past year. Hampton Fancher’s (original B.R. scribe) writing it, Ridley’s directing.

It gets me giddy to see Thrones so successful. Let’s hope it goes on and on.

Just my opinion, having read the Southern Vampire Mysteries and given up on True Blood during season 4, while the books have their own set of problems as the series progress and I lost interest around book 10, the series diverged so far from the main storyline that they are completely different works with a few characters and locations in common. I don’t think most of the changes in TB were improvements over the Book storylines although from what I’ve heard of this season, they have made some improvements in coherence.

So far, David and Dan have been much more faithful to the source material, and the changes have been necessary to deal with real-world budgets and movement in a visual medium. I think that’s why it works so well. I’m not a book purist because wouldn’t be possible to make the whole of ASOIAF as written into a TV series, but with a few exceptions, I think most of the changes have been as good as, or better than the books at getting to the heart GRRM’s original story.

What is interesting (and somewhat expected given the quality of the source material) is that these adjusted numbers are only an average for the season, and probably don’t even indicate the extent of multi-viewers per feed. Standard deviation and variance would be interesting to know as well. I wonder what the adjusted highs and lows (with variance considered) were per episode?

Also, as I indicated a few months back during our Neilsen’s debate, the numbers the ratings services produce are pure crap given the many realtime and delayed viewing options we have today. After a month or so of analysis, I hope these numbers give a better picture of the viewership, rather than a snapshot judgement call specifically invented for legacy couch-potato advertising purposes. I’d love to see a breakdown of viewership per major locale, per state, per nation, per sex, per ethnicity…probably not possible yet…but those movement and tracking implants behind the ears are due to arrive at birthing centers soon. ;-)

[Can you tell I live and breathe statistics/sadistics for a living?] :-}
Awesome news though. Keep up the good work D&D&BC!

I come here everyday, and I want my cut. Just open the coffers and give me three dollars a month, and I won’t feel I’m devoting more and more time to this like it’s a religion.

I need to be able to pretend it’s a job, HBO.

Or do something other than get enormously excited about, like, the casting of Styr. I don’t even have strong feelings about minor characters in the books, I’ve only read the books once, and I skimmed some. Sigh. It’s just very enjoyable. I think this is the way people feel about football teams, or lottery tickets.

Love me some Dorne! Can’t wait! I can see them ending S4 with references to Myrcella in the wake of Joffrey’s death and opening S5 with Myrcella and Arianne. I don’t think that they’ll skip the crowning plot (although I only think it needs 1-2 episodes max) because 1) it gives a baseline for Arianne’s character development, and 2) it contrasts with Tommen’s KL story to further emphasize the shattering of Westeros in prep for the arrival of Aegon and Daenerys. Hopefully by then we’ll have another book to devour with the expansion of Arianne’s story and some info about the Daynes. ;)

Hodor’s Bastard:
What is interesting (and somewhat expected given the quality of the source material) is that these adjusted numbers are only an average for the season, and probably don’t even indicate the extent of multi-viewers per feed. Standard deviation and variance would be interesting to know as well. I wonder what the adjusted highs and lows (with variance considered) were per episode?

Also, as I indicated a few months back during our Neilsen’s debate, the numbers the ratings services produce are pure crap given the many realtime and delayed viewing options we have today.After a month or so of analysis, I hope these numbers give a better picture of the viewership, rather than a snapshot judgement call specifically invented for legacy couch-potato advertising purposes. I’d love to see a breakdown of viewership per major locale, per state, per nation, per sex, per ethnicity…probably not possible yet…but those movement and tracking implants behind the ears are due to arrive at birthing centers soon. ;-)

2. Nielsen collects their data in the same way certain people accurately predicted how the US election last year would turn out. It’s simple. It is accurate. You don’t need a device collecting every single view. That would be costly and insane.

Hodor’s Bastard: I hope these numbers give a better picture of the viewership, rather than a snapshot judgement call specifically invented for legacy couch-potato advertising purposes. I

Everyone agrees something needs to be done about the Nielsen model, just not what, exactly. And, because broadcast networks don’t have the benefit of all the streaming/repeat options pay cable does, the only equal playing field for all is first-time-viewing figures. That’s where viewers must choose between content, although the argument can be made, very well, that live events will always trump scripted/reality fare since they have relatively little repeat value.

In horse racing, it’s called trip handicapping—real competition among real horses—rather than on-paper match-ups based on best times, track biases and conditions, etc. I think we can understand why the first-time viewer can be considered more valuable than the person who watches six days later because he/she has nothing else to do while defrosting the refrigerator.

Who would have ever thought that a medieval show set in a fantasy universe could ever draw these kinds of viewer figures , I really hope this helps other large studios take notice and take chances on material like ASOIAF in the future.

So by a quick observation it appears HBO’s top shows are ones with fantasy elements.

They have the medieval theme covered, they have the modern day Vampire type stuff covered…

Why not try a futuristic cyberpunk type fantasy series? Seems to be a no brainer. Take themes from Blade Runner and Ergo Proxy, make a dark thought provoking series, challenge the viewer with morality issues and societal excepted norms. Make some money, win some Emmys…

Pursuant to my points about Outlander, Tobias Menzies (Edmure Tully) has just been cast in a major dual role in that series, coming from Starz in 2014. The cross fertilization of fantasy series continues.

DH87: Everyone agrees something needs to be done about the Nielsen model, just not what, exactly.

By “everyone” you mean people who don’t know how it works. Which is typical for most things. People say “congress needs to change” but have no idea what that means.

Nielsen already measures every legal avenue of viewing. But Nielsen exists to get people PAID not to help some program win a popularity contest. That’s not Nielsen’s job. It’s like asking the president to pass more bills through congress. It’s not his job.

Joshua Atreides: Sadly yes….The Legend Of the Seeker. An absolute travesty of an adaptation.

“This”.
That was beyond disappointing. I loved that book series, I had even dreamed about writing a screenplay for that show, and when I heard it was to be a series I was overjoyed…. How wrong I was.
Goodkind must be jealous of GOT, for years he said he would never sell the rights and when he did it was fumbled. And now the “unproducable” asoiaf series is hotter than sliced bread.

When I said “everyone,” I was including Nielsen itself, as described by this article, which reports Nielsen is attempting to track streaming video in the near future and develop a “separate metering system for tablets and mobile devices.” This is in response to the “pressure for universal encoding.”

Pursuant to my points about Outlander, Tobias Menzies (Edmure Tully) has just been cast in a major dual role in that series, coming from Starz in 2014. The cross fertilization of fantasy series continues.

OMG!!!! The Outlander series is one of my favorite and I have several autographed books. Gabaldon lives in AZ and frequently goes to the Celtic Festivals that I like to frequent. I’m am soooooo stoked. Now I just have to figure out how to watch it when I don’t have cable tv any more.

Glad to meet another fan of this series. Ron Moore of Battlestar Galactica is the showrunner, and an unknown young Scot has been cast as Jamie Fraser, with Gabaldon’s complete approval. Outlander has a rabid fan base,, developed over twenty years, so let’s hope the show lives up to book fans’ hopes.

Starz typically puts its tent pole series on its website for its subscribers, so maybe that will work for you.

Yes I heard. I’m excited for that but a little sick of WWII stuff… But nonetheless they chose to possibly adapt a manga/anime and that’s exciting because there is so much awesome manga/anime out there… And again I’m not talking about DBZ stuff or fan service stuff…

Pau: I disagree, it was on par with the books, wich are the biggest piece of shit ever written in the fantasy genre an on par with Dianetics ;)

I haven’t seen any film adaptation, however it’s fairly easy to spot some external
influence, with respect to the books and author. There’s also been much talk
of ” dianetics “and Scientology both as a cult of sorts and religious philosophy
unto the uber wealthy & celebrities. I hear they are ultra secretive, as presumably
most cults may be, how then are you so familiar, just a question. You don’t have
to elaborate unless you prefer to.

BTW, I easily sifted through the book’s rhetoric, a just enjoyed the wizardry and
excellent detail of events. The author has proven quite good thus far, of continuity
and filling in any unclassified premise regarding magic. Only Real life events tend
to draw further interest for credible research and analytical thought. The Sword
of Truth book series just me to travel within the bounds of magic, much like
reading about Elves or Timey Wimey.

2. Nielsen collects their data in the same way certain people accurately predicted how the US election last year would turn out. It’s simple. It is accurate. You don’t need a device collecting every single view. That would be costly and insane.

Does anyone (Nielsen or HBO or whoever) do stats on international views?

In Australia, it aired on Foxtel (pay TV) within about 24 hours of airing in the US, then dropped on iTunes a few hours after that. So a lot of us actually watched it legally this time (the first and second seasons were a pain to watch legally in Australia by any means).

Don’t know how it worked anywhere else, but I would assume it’s a fairly large income source. The “Rest of World” audience would comfortably be bigger than the US audience, wouldn’t it?

I agree that a statistical world-view would be highly interesting for an internationally-beloved show like GoT. Imagine if we were able to quickly determine how many black, gay, Catholic females of aboriginal descent in Italy watched the RW, alone or with an ethnically-diverse group of 2 or more?

Current ratings techniques ain’t relevant in this multi-faceted, multi-media, multi-timezone, multi-friend world. The only thing HBO/Comcast/Verizon/DirectTV/etc has is a cablebox/DVR that reports back info on subscriber viewing habits and shows watched per paid subscription feed (and even that can be hidden given new HDTV settings). Although I respect and have used several mathematical extrapolation/estimation techniques in my career, there is no accurate technique available that reports the number of people actually watching the show, alone or in boisterous groups who drink vodka shots whenever a “Hodor” or “Ghost” is uttered. ;-)

Turncloak: The great Ridley Scott is making a Blade Runner sequel and it will be awesome :p

While I’m not exactly hugely enthused about a sequel (someone has to really explain to me why is it some movies just can’t be left alone…this sequelitis syndrome is really tedious…) I am intrigued and I am more than willing to get the parties involved the benefit of doubt, especially since those parties are Ridley Scott himself and the original scribe Hampton Fancher! After all Phillip K. Dick himself approved of Scott’s take on his novel, but he unfortunatelly passed away mere months before “Blade Runner” premiered.

I guess I was raging against a re-make, not necessarily a sequel. Though wouldn’t it make more sense to make a prequel rather than a sequel to “Blade Runner”…at the end of the movie Deckard is pretty much done being a cop and he runs away with Rachel. I’d be more interested in Deckard’s early years as a “blade runner”, a cop “retiring” the “skin jobs”, pardon me, replicants…to me it makes more sense…

If they go ahead with the project, then they must get Vangelis for the soundtrack, there is no movie without his music, and get approval from Phillip K. Dick’s children to do this, especially Isa who has been intimately involved with preserving her father’s legacy!

Also, please, please stay away from KW Jeter’s novels. Phillip K. Dick and KW Jeter became friends at California State University-Fullerton, so Jeter’s novels do have legitimacy (though they are sequels to the movie and not Dick’s original novel) as he was familiar with Dick’s vision and creativity. While I like Jeter’s novels, I personally don’t think they would make for great sequel materials…

Other than that, I’ll keep my fingers crossed and if all goes well, I’m ready to return to the rainsoaked, poluted city scape of Los Angeles 2019 (think, that is only six years away?!?!?)

A Blade Runner Sequel has possible fodder: are you aware of the ambiguity that Ridley Scott created with the director’s cut? That Deckard may himself be a Replicant? I have no qualms with a sequel but Scott and Fancher must do honour to the original film. It should feel like an expansion of the storyline rather than a sequel.

If one follows celebrity and the mechanics of the film industry as a whole then an informed opinion on Dianetics and Scientology through a simple Wikipedia search will tell one all they need to know about some kooky celeb cult.

Oh I loathe the SOT books. At least after halfway through the second book. Whether I like them or not places no bearing on how terrible that adaptation was. At least Craig Parker ended up on Spartacus and Bridget Regan was nice to look at.

Joshua Atreides: Sadly yes….The Legend Of the Seeker. An absolute travesty of an adaptation.

I recently read the first book (and about 80 pages of the second before permanently closing the lid). I think the show was good. Really great looking people and lots of fighting, enough to keep you going to the next episode… I don’t know how it could get better than that. I don’t think I’ll read another Goodkind book again. I was only able to get through this book by remembering the episodes and I think he’s a not very good writer.

Hodor’s Bastard: Yeah, I was wondering about that. One can only imagine what a “classified premise regarding magic” might be. Maybe that is the real reason why Snowden defected? NSA must really know something.

The Comment editor hadn’t been working for a couple of hours. I agree, appropriate
words Do matter.

If one follows celebrity and the mechanics of the film industry as a wholethen an informedopinion on Dianetics and Scientology through a simple Wikipedia search will tell one all they need to know about some kooky celeb cult.

I did a quick check, as I’m unfamiliar with these until their was recent chatter
in the celeb press, something about Tom Cruise and his former wife. I’m
not from the US and never heard of either or the 2 name association.
Wikipedia does inform quite a bit with much detail or assertions, but I
still left puzzled over it’s ” religious ” status. It really sounds like a cult,
with no deity figure. And really, Extraterrestrials ? WTF ? Did Spock
know about this ? Or the Starfleet Federation of Planets ? Sacre’ Bleau !

LOL, I’ve memorized a few lines myself, comes in handy when dealing with
” replicants “. The soundtrack accompanies me on long drives on Hwy 1,
du Nord. There’s no termination date, how long do any of us have anyway.

Hodor’s Bastard:
What is interesting (and somewhat expected given the quality of the source material) is that these adjusted numbers are only an average for the season, and probably don’t even indicate the extent of multi-viewers per feed. Standard deviation and variance would be interesting to know as well. I wonder what the adjusted highs and lows (with variance considered) were per episode?

Also, as I indicated a few months back during our Neilsen’s debate, the numbers the ratings services produce are pure crap given the many realtime and delayed viewing options we have today.After a month or so of analysis, I hope these numbers give a better picture of the viewership, rather than a snapshot judgement call specifically invented for legacy couch-potato advertising purposes. I’d love to see a breakdown of viewership per major locale, per state, per nation, per sex, per ethnicity…probably not possible yet…but those movement and tracking implants behind the ears are due to arrive at birthing centers soon. ;-)

[Can you tell I live and breathe statistics/sadistics for a living?] :-}
Awesome news though. Keep up the good work D&D&BC!

Nielsen absolutely tracks demigraphic info on these shows — but that’s all for sale. Subscribers to Nielsen and advertisers gt that kind of info. They don’t give it away publicly.

Joshua Atreides , certain by now that you’ve noticed Breaking Bad’s latest
preview for the upcoming season…. Cranston reciting lines from ” Ozymandias “,
that’s some analogy. The legacy of Shelley’s work adumbrates Heisenberg’s
meth empire in rubble,both touting arrogance yet similar also in it’s depiction of
the desert landscape. I was awestruck to watch the commercial. As I’ve caught up
five seasons now, I’m ready for the new season on AMC. No easy task, watching
4 seasons and reading the detailed episodes online, finishing only today. Wheew !

Stunning, stunning episode of BREAKING BAD. Once again, we see that AMC has learned its lesson in leaving brilliant showrunners alone, and Vince Gilligan has created a masterpiece as a result. We are witnessing an era of brilliant cable television springing from two fetid swamplands: broadcast television and its mindless dreck, and the corporation-dominated, comic-book driven film-making of the last fifteen years.

That was an awesome commercial. Vince Gilligan is a brilliant writer. Sadly I have l only started watching the fifth season part I just this week, so I’ll have to catch up soon.

I read through the season five script ( detailed outline, really ), finishing up
saturday evening. The network wasn’t showing any of S5, so I believed there
was no other recourse than to read and be satisfied with that………..I was wrong.
Apparently S5 was scheduled for early sunday, and hours before season six airing.
Curious about any detail I’d likely missed, I planted my butt for a few observations.
Man ol’ man, the tension throughout, the angst , fear, sadness, gripped me far
more televised than the incredibly written synopsis at AMC.

I urge you to search around for replays of S5, online or cable network, prepare
for more depth even though you may have already viewed S6 opener. I lucked
out because both the Sundance Channel and AMC were re- showing the series
from the beginning S1. If you can believe it, I’d never eve viewed a single episode
before. Very glad that the reruns were scheduled in intervals of 4 episodes,
only one day per week. Even so, I’m surprised I planted my butt that long in
front of the tele. I was definitely obsessed at that point. “Say my name”, dammit !

Agreed, it was one of their best episodes. This show doesn’t screw around and prolong things for no real reason, with that final scene.

Truly, this show is perfection. Every showrunner should watch it and take notes.

P.S. GoT was mentioned on S5 DVD commentaries – Vince Gilligan was talking about difficulty of shooting complex stuff in several locations (I think it was on Dead Freight commentary), he praised the show and said that he has no idea how GoT people manage to make the series.

Yes, I predicted that the show will get higher ratings. Since Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum dumb downed the show for the masses, so they flock to it like sheep. I don’t care about ratings as you see shows like The Wire and Breaking Bad never have huge ratings, but they are better shows than GoT will be. GoT is HBO’s The Walking Dead. It has huge ratings it doesn’t deserve.

AngryRosFan: So far, David and Dan have been much more faithful to the source material, and the changes have been necessary to deal with real-world budgets and movement in a visual medium.

I laughed at this sentence, especially D&D being faithful to the source material. GoT is more and more like True Blood after the 1st season. Faithful first then the show runners’ egos inflate thinking they can do better than the source material by adding their own crap they made up. Why do D&D bootlickers always use it’s always because of budget reasons and adaptation process that they had to divert from the books? Jaime killing his cousin was done because of budget reasons? What about Catelyn not knowing Bran and Rickon were killed before letting go of Jaime or how Stannis, Shae, Littlfinger are nothing like in the books? I could go on. Yes, there are some cases it’s the budget or it’s the process of adapting the novel to the show, but it’s most likely that the terrible duo want ownership and make it their show, where most of the credit will go to them. After all, D&D were bunch of nobodies who wrote scripts to bad or forgettable movies before GoT.

Breaking Bad won Sunday night’s ratings battle, FWIW, at the expense of TB, which once again equaled its lowest ratings in several years (3.99 million). To me, this pretty much proves that much of TB’s success has been due to the weakness of its summertime competition. (Yes, of course AMC is available in many, many more homes than is HBO, but that is always the case, across the board, for HBO shows.)

It’s clear that GOT’s ratings in a hard-fought spring season are much more significant than TB’s and have been for some time.

The Purist,
Bah whatever. I have read the books and yes, changes have been made, but the story it still there. The big events have happened and they’re still happening. True Blood changed EVERYTHING, at least GoT still holds the spirit of the books. But what the hell, purists like you always think they know better. PLUS, you’re still supporting the show by watching it, no matter what you complaint about. Don’t like whats happening in the show, easy… quit the shot. Yeah, right me back with a massive comeback. I know that’s what you’re up to.

Breaking Bad won Sunday night’s ratings battle, FWIW, at the expense of TB, which once again equaled its lowest ratings in several years (3.99 million). To me, this pretty much proves that much of TB’s success has been due to the weakness of its summertime competition. (Yes, of course AMC is available in many, many more homes than is HBO, but that is always the case, across the board, for HBO shows.)

It’s clear that GOT’s ratings in a hard-fought spring season are much more significant than TB’s and have been for some time.

Good points, all. TrueBlood’s summertime competition has definitely proved
weak by comparison, even some non cable network shows tend to power
down during the season. I may have tipped TB successes solely to it’s
familiar character names and the Skars-Porn content, prior to your insights.
That it’s weak , incongruous script prompted many viewers to bolt, is a topic
well discussed in other threads here, and of course throughout the web- verse
& is not worth elaborating again at this juncture. delirium 0733 probably hasn’t
read your earlier posts about that.

I haven’t forgiven the wayward direction of TB since 2011, and haven’t had a peak
since. There are far more interesting projects now available to view or read.
I like ” Newsroom ” and ” VEEP “, as worthy viewing. BBC -America finally
has a few good short summer series, between the interim big season draws, so
that’s better too ( Not a constant 12 month barrage of ” Top Gear ” , any longer.
When ” Orphan Black ” & Doctor Who ” returns , BBC ratings will likely surge.
I was hoping that Showtime’s ” Ray Donavan ” would be a winner, but it’s
too soon to tell.

It’s interesting to compare AMC shows to HBO shows because AMC moves its marquee shows around the calendar, while HBO tends to keep its top shows in the same seasonal time slot year after year. BB’s 2013 split season gives TB real competition for the first time, if only for a couple of weeks. AMC’s decision reveals not only TB’s vulnerability but also AMC’s strategy in scheduling against the former “powerhouse.” It impresses AMC advertisers that BB can stand up to an HBO show, and HBO can’t rationalize that a new show is always stronger than an aging one—BB and TB are the same age.

Oh, and I appreciate your points about BBCAmerica, but BBCA shows aren’t in the top l00 reported by TV By the Numbers, so it doesn’t seem to be a major player in the U.S. markets.

Oh, and it looks like HBO has picked up another David Milch drama, The Money, after the ill-fated Luck. Brendan Gleeson is the lead. This sounds like another backlot $how, a la TB, which complements the epics on the HBO balance sheet.

delirium0733:
Bah whatever. I have read the books and yes, changes have been made, but the story it still there. The big events have happened and they’re still happening. True Blood changed EVERYTHING, at least GoT still holds the spirit of the books. But what the hell, purists like you always think they know better. PLUS, you’re still supporting the show by watching it, no matter what you complaint about. Don’t like whats happening in the show,easy… quit the shot. Yeah, right me back with a massive comeback. I know that’s what you’re up to.

You’re right, I’m supporting the show by watching every god awful changes the terrible duo makes. Yet somehow GoT fanboys foam at the mouth when I shot down their precious show. Calm down, you fanboys, I’m supporting the show!

I have prepared a really good comeback but thought otherwise. You’re not worth my time for my witty comebacks.

You’re right, I’m supporting the show by watching every god awful changes the terrible duo makes. Yet somehow GoT fanboys foam at the mouth when I shot down their precious show. Calm down, you fanboys, I’m supporting the show!

I have prepared a really good comeback but thought otherwise. You’re not worth my time for my witty comebacks.

i have watched all three season and i have started reading the first book im soooo proud at GOT and i feel i need to apolojys bc i dont pay for watching it i live in iran and im not the only one who is in love with the show here!unfortunatly it feels like no one knows that there are FANS in iran too and we would love to have the show legaly or we wish we could watch it on tv but… well i just wanted to say THIS SHOW HAS A LOT OF FANS

[…] Fire, but really outside of the announcement that season three of Game of Thrones managed to hit over 14 million viewers the only news has been Time Warner CEO coming out to variety magazine and suggesting that they are […]